Afghanistan's ruling Taliban yesterday rejected an ultimatum from US President George W. Bush to surrender Osama bin Laden and said a US military strike on the country would be a "showdown of might."
"We are not ready to hand over Osama bin Laden without evidence," Kabul's ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, said in Islamabad.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He said the government was not bound by an edict from leading Afghan clerics on Thursday declaring bin Laden should be persuaded to leave the country "whenever possible."
Girding his nation for a long "war on terrorism" after last week's hijacked airliner attacks on America, Bush earlier warned the Taliban to turn over the Saudi-born Islamic militant and his leading followers or share their fate.
"Whether we bring our enemies to justice or justice to our enemies, justice will be done," Bush said in a speech to a joint session of Congress that set forth his doctrine for an all-out assault on those he called enemies of freedom.
He said all evidence gathered so far pointed to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization as responsible for the carnage at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon that left more than 6,500 people dead or missing.
Bush told the US military to get ready, vowing that "The hour is coming when America will act."
With the US rapidly deploying warplanes and aircraft carrier groups to the Middle East and Indian Ocean, Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum that also included shutting al-Qaeda training camps in the impoverished country.
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists or they will share in their fate," he said.
In a resolute address met by two dozen standing ovations from the floor of the Congress, Bush told foreign governments, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
"From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime," Bush said.
Zaeef, speaking through an interpreter, said the Taliban would never surrender if the US launched attacks on their nation and that Muslims had an obligation to respond with jihad, or holy war.
"It would be a showdown of might," he said. "We will never surrender to evil and might.
On Thursday, the council, or shura, of clerics said bin Laden, a 44-year-old multi-millionaire based in Afghanistan, should be persuaded to leave, though not expelled. Zaeef said the move was only a suggestion.
"If Osama voluntarily leaves Afghanistan, he may," Zaeef told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency.
Aiming to head off charges he is waging war on Islam, Bush called bin Laden's militants traitors to the peaceful teachings of their faith and said America's fight was not with Muslims.
Bush told Americans to prepare for a long conflict fought with diplomatic, financial and military means against a network of "thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries."
"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there," Bush said. "It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
Trying to explain why Islamic militants want to harm America, Bush called them a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam.
"The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children," he said.
Bush also announced the creation of a Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security, with outgoing Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge as its director, to head efforts to overcome weaknesses in domestic security laid bare by last week's attacks. The office will coordinate protection efforts of 40 federal agencies and state and local governments.
The complete text of Bush's address to Congress can be read on http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
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